If a trademark contains a place name, how can it be considered fair use?-Q&A.-Shenzhen deep trust patent Agency Co., LTD

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If a trademark contains a place name, how can it be considered fair use?

Release Time：

2022-07-14

Some trademark applicants have doubts that the trademark law stipulates that the trademark cannot contain the place name, so why "Ali", "Wuchang rice" these trademarks can be registered? Can a trademark contain a place name, and if so, how can it be regarded as legitimate use? Find out more with Deep Trust.

The second paragraph of Article 10 of the Trademark Law stipulates: "Geographical names of administrative divisions at or above the county level or foreign geographical names known to the public shall not be used as trademarks." However, the geographical name has other meanings or is used as part of a collective trademark or certification mark, except; Registered trademarks using geographical names shall continue to be valid."

Note that there are restrictions on whether a place name can be used as a trademark.

1. Geographical names of administrative divisions above the county level or foreign geographical names known to the public may not be applied for registration as trademarks. Under the county level, or foreign place names that are not widely known by the public, are acceptable.

For example, "Lujiang" (Lujiang is not a place name above the county level in China), "MATSU KAOLIANG LIQUOR" (Matsu is not a place name above the county level in China), "BENTRE" (points to Ben Tre County in Vietnam, but Ben Tre province is not a foreign place name known to the public in China) and so on.

2. Place names have other meanings and can be registered as trademarks. "Other meaning" means that the place name as a word has a definite meaning and the meaning is stronger than the meaning as a place name, and will not mislead the public.

For example, "Ali" trademark, although "Ali" is the geographical name of the Ali area of the administrative division above the county level in the Tibet Autonomous Region, but after the long-term use of Alibaba Group, has formed other meanings than the geographical name, so it can be registered as a trademark. There is also "Phoenix", which can refer to the legendary bird name and also refers to Fenghuang County in Hunan Province, which has two meanings.

In practice, some signs are composed of place names and other elements. If the signs, due to the addition of other elements, have significant characteristics on the whole and form other meanings than place names on the whole, or have no meaning on the whole and are generally not easy to be identified as place names, such trademarks can be allowed to be used.

3. Place names can be registered as part of collective trademarks and certification marks. It's very common, it's well understood, it's used by members of a community organization. Such as "Korla pear", "Wuchang rice" and so on.

4. Registered trademarks containing place names. This situation means that trademarks containing geographical names that were registered before the 1993 decision to amend the Trademark Law came into effect can continue to be used.

In general, trademarks containing place names are often iconic and easier to be remembered by users, but such trademarks are often difficult to apply for registration, and it is recommended to consult a professional trademark consultant before applying for it is feasible, and the risk of application may not be worth it.

Source: Gold name label

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